Chef-owner looking for perspective: sous chef wants equity — how would you handle this?
I’m chef-owner of a small, profitable fast-casual spot (5 years open, profitable last 3, 100% mine). I was on the line for the first 3 years but stepped back due to arthritis and to focus on growth. Tiny kitchen team: 2 AM cooks, 2 PM cooks, 1 dishwasher.
Six months ago I let go of my previous sous chef for harassment/toxic behavior after multiple write-ups. Hired a new sous chef who’s genuinely talented — strong on the line, great with catering, sharp on food/labor cost, took the initiative to overhaul our ordering and build SOPs on his own.
A few wrinkles:
~He has carpal tunnel from a previous job, which makes heavy line time hard on him. I’ve adjusted scheduling to help, and he’s been a trooper about it, but it weighs on me.
~He asked to move to salary (with performance-based raises and bonus structure). We worked out a salary and he initially agreed, then backed out right before the switch because overtime pays better right now.
~I’m exploring a shared kitchen space to grow catering, which is his strength. When I raised the possibility of him running that, he got excited — then came back asking for a plan where vesting would start in three years, and said he’s “holding out” to see if catering grows, or he’ll leave. I still think that’s too soon — he’s been with me under a year. I told him it’s premature to be discussing equity structure at all right now. He said he’d take on more responsibility if he had that partnership path — I feel like it should go the other way: prove it over time, then we talk bigger structure.
I’m willing to offer a competitive salary, growth incentives, and profit-sharing as the business scales. I’m just not looking to give away equity to someone under a year in, no matter how good they are.
Even with a 3-year vesting runway, does starting that clock this early feel premature to you? Is this a normal growing-pain moment with a talented but leverage-seeking employee, or a bigger red flag about how he’ll operate long-term if he doesn’t get what he wants?